F1 Azerbaijan GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3
Saturday's final practice for the 17th round of the 2024 Formula 1 season
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc ended Friday as the fastest driver after Red Bull's Max Verstappen topped the order in FP1.
Leclerc and Franco Colapinto found the walls in the earlier session, while George Russell ended FP2 prematurely with a second PU issue of the day.
FP3 begins at 9:30am BST, with qualifying following at 1pm BST.
By: Sam Hall
To keep up with all the action in qualifying, click here. Until then, bye for now!
And with that, it's time to depart until qualifying slightly later on. You can find the full report of the FP3 session here.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-azerbaijan-gp-fp3-report/10654048/
Looking ahead to qualifying and it is possibly one of the most open sessions of the season with all of the top eight cars in contention.
“How close the track is to all the city furniture here - there’s little walkways built for marshals, photographers and drivers minus their machines to get around.”
Speaking of surprises, with Albon and Colapinto in eighth and ninth, could Williams be in for a very rare double Q3 appearance?
Based on the weekend so far, it appears that qualifying - at least, the early stages in Q1 or Q2 - could be decided by yellow or red flags. Keep an eye out for a surprise or two.
On their final lap, Red Bull try the tow to pull Verstappen up the order, with the Dutchman climbing to fifth while Perez remains seventh.
The chequered flag is out on practice. Next up, things get serious in qualifying.
Russell goes top in the closing seconds! Could Mercedes be in the picture after a shakey start to the weekend? A 1m42.514s is the marker, with Leclerc just 0.013 back.
“There’s clear audio clue of how much a driver is trying to take grip from the tyres at Turn 4 - on push laps now with the softs they’re stamping on the gas much earlier in the corner trajectory. In the race on the hard compounds, that acceleration will come later and be much more gentle to minimise sliding and lessen the risk of tyre graining.”
Perez has caught the ire of Sainz there, failing to move off the line and impeding the Ferrari driver at one of the narrower points of the layout.
That's more like it from Norris, as he puts in a fully competitive effort for the first time this weekend to go second.
Five minutes remain as Verstappen goes third, three tenths off Leclerc.
Albon again moves up the order to fifth and should not be ruled out of a Q3 appearance this weekend to upset the established order.
Despite passing through a yellow flag zone, Leclerc puts in a purple sector one and goes fastest by 0.185s from Piastri with a 1m42.564s.
2nd for Hamilton but 0.552s down on Piastri's session-best effort.
"The ride feels terrible down the straight and under braking," reports Russell.
For perhaps their final qualifying simulations of the session, Mercedes cross the line with Russell and Hamilton to begin their laps.
Russell immediately locks up and goes off into the Turn 2 escape road.
“The rubber going down here at Turn 4 has created a nice visual ideal racing line illustration - although the drivers will be looking far ahead of the front wheels given the narrow view from the cockpit.”
"Can you check the PU. Something sounds and feels a little bit funny," reports Russell. After Friday's issues, this isn't what Mercedes would have wanted to hear.
Purple in sector one, purple in sector two, and purple overall - a 1m42.749s puts Piastri top by a huge 0.640s margin!
Perez's latest table-topping effort is a 1m43.389s - but here comes Piastri with another effort.
Completing their times at a similar time to Norris however, Perez, Leclerc, Verstappen, Albon, Sainz and Russell have all pushed the McLaren driver to seventh.
“Colapinto just got Turn 4 all wrong - slow getting too close to the kerb on the inside, which badly unsettles the cars, the wide and losing speed as he fought to avoid the wall on the outside.”
With 17 minutes remaining, teams are beginning to practice the tow in case it's needed in qualifying slightly later on today.
And it's straight to the top for Norris. That 1m44.226s will be a confidence-boosting lap!
Yellows again briefly in sector one, but Norris is able to complete his effort this time.